Isn't it Marbelous?

No matter what the mistake, it can always be fixed.  Well, when it comes to paint anyway...

Click to enlarge, click again to show detail...and I invite you to play a little game of "Find six things that are different" in these pictures of my own porch...answers next week!

The front porch columns in the first photo are pretty realistic, but with so much white in them, they don't really relate to the stone bases, and thus, not to anything on the porch.  Luckily, the weather has been cooperative this week, not counting the hideous soup known as Minnesota humidity that boiled over on Tuesday...really, you could swim in it, if only you had gills.  So, for the entertainment of the regulars at the Sparetime Tavern, just across the street, I re-marbled the columns to more closely match the color of the stone bases (sad that so many have nothing more interesting to do on lunch hour, than sit and watch paint dry...twice).

With the dark veins the columns are a bit more theatrical, but glazes aren't really an option for something that gets so much sun.  I actually don't mind that they aren't too realistic, because know how I know I got it right?  I asked three different passersby what they thought of the columns, and none realized at first that they had been painted!  Each had stopped to compliment me on the beautiful porch face lift (ego strokes are just one reason to work in such a public field of art! ;) ), but although the columns are the most obvious change, and although they have been white for over one hundred years, not one of the three realized they were different! 

Am I offended?  Not a bit!  To do something that fits so well that it seems like original architecture is usually what I'm aiming for.  I don't want people to say, "Oh, you painted!", I want them to say "This house is gorgeous, and so welcoming!"  That's my definition of success.  So, no, I don't always get it right on the first try, but that's the beauty of paint:  it's 100% custom.  And just so you know, when this happens on a paid job, the quoted price stands.  Figuring out the perfect solution for your house is just part of the service I offer.

Now, for something more realistic, here are three marbleized columns painted to identically match existing marble, with a little hand-sculpted plaster detail, to make up for the fact that they are standard issue fiberglass units.

Click to enlarge, click again for close-up detail

Have a perfect week, no matter how many tries it takes!  I'm headed over to keystonewomenscircle.blogspot.com next, to share what I learned about sleep (one of my favorite things), this week.  Join me!

Third? Fourth? Who's counting?

The Third Thursday Art Group met today.  Yes, we know it's the fourth Thursday, but the third one snuck in so early, all but Melody forgot.  Meet some of the members :

Cindy Heimerl, our ring leader, and birthday girl this week, paints abstract acrylics, sculpts bits of jewelry and other findings into masterpieces, and blank spaces into unique environments.  Owner of The Bohemian Barn, a semi-private party spot, for coffee socials, improv nights, and Glamour Camping (think fluffy antique beds beneath the arching rafters, lit by chandeliers...pure magic just for the girls).  On improv nights, you might meet her alter ego, Ruby LeFey, whose stories will make you laugh so hard you blow wine out your nose...not that I ever do anything so undignified.

This is Donna Faus, Cindy's mom.  I was so glad to see her at our meeting today, as she doesn't always make it.  She paints in watercolor, and gives great "mom hugs".   You know what I mean...you just know you're getting mama love, even if she doesn't say a thing. 

Melody Villars is primarily a sculptor in clay, though she paints, crafts, and makes the most exquisite collage cards.  See her work at melodyvillars.com.

Marci Halfmann loves all that glitters.  She makes crazy fun necklaces, which I affectionately call my magpie jewelry.  Surprisingly, none of us wore one today, though usually nearly all of us have on a Marci creation.  Anyway, Marci buys all her materials out of pocket, then donates every penny of her proceeds to Oasis, a parrot rescue organization.  She's always in pigtails, and full of giggles and the bawdiest jokes.

And yes, here's me.  Not nice to put all your girlfriends snapshots up and not brave one of your own.  Didn't recognize me in mascara and clean clothes, did you?

And what of job photos?

Promises, promises.  I can't seem to keep a one this week.  Last week, I promised to have pics of the marbled and plastered master bedroom I was working on, but half way through the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant on Sunday, I realized I had the camera case, but no camera, and no time to circle back home to grab it.  I'll pop back down there for photos after their new flooring is in and the furniture replaced. 

Next, I promised to have photos of Belle's new porch paint up here, and I thought I would complete that today, but due to uncooperative weather, I now have a lot of  soggy, freshly scraped bare wood, which will have to dry before I can finish the paint.  Perhaps next week...

And last, but not least, and on a respectfully serious note, I promised to be a Quinche til death, but after 15 years, I give up on keeping that promise, too.  Some of you won't be surprised to hear this.  To others, I apologize for not saying anything in person.   It's just a case of "oil and water" (candles and curtains?), and not the cheeriest of subjects on the job, so I've kept it low key.  The legalities, along with the name change, are in the works, but don't be surprised if you spot deLara cropping up on some things.  For those of you who would offer your prayers, please hold Wilson in them, as well.  I can't regret a day of my life, not even the hardest ones, as they've led me to today, and to knowing all of you.  

Endings and beginnings...blank pages, fresh pencils, new chapters...next week. 

For some sunnier news, check out our parade photos on keystonewomenscircle.blogspot.com.

Have I told you lately that...

I love my job.  Today while I worked, I listened to amazing live music, played by my client's teenage son.  His dad mentioned that he doesn't read music, plays by ear, and composes his own, so I think I was hearing something improvised...Rachmaninoff crossed with Vince Guaraldi?  A very hip classical jazz fusion?  Maybe it was just a practice session, and he was running one song into the next with flair.  This guy isn't just good for a kid, this guy made me beg for more!  Unfortunately, he had to go to work, so I had to settle for MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) the rest of the day.  His folks say he isn't on myspace, but keep your ears open for a group called "Lady in the Radiator".  

I've spent the week in Mankato, doing classic marbled walls in a dramatic gold and umber, with sculpted plaster detail.  It's going nicely, and should finish Sunday, so I'll show that next week.  Driving to Mankato, 35 miles south of Belle Plaine, is always good for a smile, first because it is a really pretty drive, and second, because it goes through The Valley of the Jolly Green Giant.  Yup, this is where that overgrown asparagus spear is from.  I find myself thinking up new ways to end the sentence,"Though I pass through the shadow of the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant, I will..."  Keeps me awake, amused and fearless!

Here's what's new at my place:

This is a floorcloth, painted for the living room.  It isn't hemmed yet in this shot, as I had to roll it out of the way to work on parade costumes for a merry band of super heroes, but I'll get back to it early next week.  Click to enlarge, click again for details.

I'm hoping to get a proper website up soon.  My favorite webguy isn't available, and since I'll be needing to do frequent updates, it may be just as well that I do it myself.  I need to find a template that gives me galleries for my portfolio, and preferably one that lets me use one of my own photos for the background.  If you know of something other than godaddy or weebly, let me know.  Also, if you have any favorite websites that are really easy to navigate, or really gorgeous to look at, let me know, either by comment on here, or email dmquinche@gmail.com .

If you're in the area this weekend, it's Bar-B-Q Days in Belle Plaine!  There are events starting Friday night, ending Sunday night with fireworks.  Mostly, it's a small town celebration with great food, carnival rides, and a parade on Saturday at noon.  Watch for the Keystone Women's Circle, along with my art students, as "Everyday Super Heroes".  Uh-huh, that'll be me in the ninja painter get-up.  See ya there!

Define Art

Every Monday I have the great joy of spending an hour and a half with at least one of three beautiful artists, all aged eight and younger, Jensen, Faith, and Kadence.  They come individually to take private art lessons, though I'm pretty sure I learn more than they do.  As a commercial artist, my work is very results driven, and though I always enjoy creating it, I wouldn't always call the process FUN.  Teaching kids forces me to have fun.

A few weeks ago, Jensen, trying to paint a parrot in acrylic on canvas, suddenly froze up and refused to try, with the words, "I don't know how.  I'm not a good artist."  I coaxed her through it, but as a teacher, the episode haunted me for most of two weeks, piling another worry on a small mountain of life's challenges.  Then, a few days ago, with a design deadline looming, I found myself circling repeatedly through the kitchen, opening the cupboards, as if something that wasn't there five minutes ago, some magic chocolate something that would cure my anxiety, would have appeared. 

Thanks to the work of Sarah Bran de Leon, CH, Calmwatershypnosis.com and a couple runs of hypnotherapy, I didn't actually eat the cupboards, nor their contents, and finally stopped to listen to the soundtrack in my head..."I don't know how.  I'm not a real artist."  Whoa.  Where did that come from?  Oh, yeah, an online forum, wherein the trippy drughead participants called their work true art, and the rest of us commercial sell-outs.  I shrugged it off at the time, but obviously it had gotten under my skin. 

Some deep breaths, a little EFT (google meridian tapping), and a conversation with God, and I remembered my truths:  Art is a form of the verb to be, as in "How art thou?"...You be, you be an artist...and all artists are fine artists, so long as they are happy.  Whatever one's mode, medium or level of technical skill, each has a place on this planet because every artistic voice is needed.  As an artistic translator, I happen to need (and like) a clear head to understand a client's concept and bring it into the light.  That's part of my purpose on the planet, and I wouldn't have been given the job if there was someone better suited.

So, this Monday, Jensen and I got out big platefuls of paint, a bunch of junk brushes, and painted ourselves silly, with only one rule:  It must not look like an object.  We painted pages of smells, sounds, oddball ideas. This is the one Jensen gave me. 

It includes squealing brakes, bunny farts, turtle burps, cheetahs tumbling down a staircase, and a lot of laughter.  I realized as I hung it on the refrigerator, that I actually really like this piece.  It looks to me like coming to the end of a tunnel, as you just start to see what the light is illuminating, but can't yet make out what the shapes are.   Bunny farts as art.  Who knew?

One other thing I know:  A house is not a home without refrigerator art.  Thanks to all the artists who contribute to the White Box Gallery, and to the parents who loan them to me.  Paint Happy!

Want to read more?  I am also the Thursday night blogger on keystonewomenscircle.blogspot.com , a blog with ideas and insights from a group of women business owners.  Check us out!

You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby...Room

Since I'm busy with a writing project this week, here's a shot from the archives.  Chinoiserie updated for a baby girl's room, with monkeys, hummingbirds, and even a pink ceiling.  The only bad thing about this one?  Within a few months of completion, the clients had an unexpected opportunity to move to a home better suited to their growing family and home-based business.  

The homeowner was heartbroken to leave behind this very personalized room, but I had a plan.  In the new house, we used the existing caramel wall color, added a harlequin diamond glaze, and "transplanted" four of the curly vines into pots painted on the walls.  One of the monkeys even came along, this time in a mural on one wall.   Little Gracie Quinn was right at home, once her beloved birds and monkey arrived.  I love a story with a happy ending.

Someday, when I invest the time in learning to shoot decent pictures, I'll get a good shot of the new version.  For now, I'm learning to write decent copy.  The photo below is where I've spent most of my week, on the living room sofa, clipboard on knees, struggling through revisions, rewrites, and seemingly contradictory directions, wishing I could walk out between the columns, and find myself on a Scottish riverbank...not just yet, I guess.

  The weather has not cooperated with dry skies on days I'm home and not writing, so no paint progress to report on the front porch.  Perhaps this Independence Day Weekend will be better, but the forecast isn't hopeful.  There's of course, a never ending list of other things I can do on this house,  so perhaps next week's blog will show something new. 

I hope your view of the fireworks this weekend is spectacular, and if you miss those, plan ahead to be in Belle Plaine on July 18th, when we do ours.  We're home base for a pyrotechnics company, so we get a really good show, we just have to wait til "Barbecue Days".

As with the inner, so with the outer

Last week it was the sanctuary walls and ceiling, this week, the wooden medallions on the exterior of St. John-Assumption Church got my attention.

Not quite my usual work, but friends are determined to keep me busy, and since it needed a color consult to match the yellow to the yellow bricks, and some skill with a brush to highlight the details in the gingerbread, I said "Sure, why not?"  Besides...

it was another chance to defy gravity.  We did use a lift, so it really wasn't difficult reaching the top medallions, and though the temperature was pushing 90 degrees, we were on the shady side of the church most of the time, with a light breeze, so it was a pleasant couple of days.

And here's how last week's sanctuary painting came out...

(Click to enlarge, click again for detail)

...and here's what the parish council wanted, but the diocese vetoed:

(Click to enlarge, click again to enlarge more)

I think if they had seen the actual sample, they might have approved the band of clouds, but they only saw the watercolor sketch, and I couldn't leave the sample until the next month's meeting, especially since I didn't exactly have permission to put it there.  It was Divine inspiration, I tell ya, and when an artist gets marching orders...well, what's a girl to do??? 

I think even the angels liked it better.

Ah, well, you can't always get what you want, but if you do the job they ordered, you can at least get paid.  Maybe next time it needs fresh paint, the diocese will give it the go ahead.  Thanks to my dear friends at St. John's who seem to be making a point of keeping me busy and out of trouble...or is it just that you figure that if I spend enough time there you'll eventually convert my heathen soul??? :)

No new photos of progress on this house again this week, since the few minutes I wasn't on jobs or running errands, I've been finishing the last non-photogenic kitchen bits.  That's about done, so I'm starting on the front porch and entryway Saturday.  I'll be working on her most of the weekend, but I will be taking breaks to do a few just-for-fun things.  Working on Belle Ami is my idea of fun, but one can get too much of a good thing... even chocolate loses it's appeal (or so I've heard), after a point. 

On Friday night I'm going to sit in the ditch and drink beer while watching cars drive by.  Really.  It's 'posta be fun.  Okay, the cars are classics, touring up to Henderson, and the ditch is actually the edge of my friend Beth's beautiful garden.  With enough mosquito dope to drown anything that isn't repelled, and a couple bottles of Leinenkeugel Honeyweiss (which I have no doubt spelled wrong, and spell check isn't classy enough to have this listed), it should be a great evening.

If you are in the area this weekend, don't miss the Jordan Art Festival, on Saturday and Sunday.  Because of my focus on finishing this place, I'm not participating this year (aside from painting the endless stream of sign orders!), but many of my dear friends are.  Try to catch Cindy Heimerl on stage Saturday, as storyteller Ruby LeFey...thought provoking and hysterically funny.  Maureen Carlson will also be doing storytelling, as well as having her polymer clay work on display, and her center open for you to check out.  Check JordanArtFestival.com for other features. 

There is wine tasting from local winery, Crofut, and the famous Pork in the Park, so I'm planning a lunch break there, while the caulking on Belle's not-quite vertical columns sets up.  Then I'm planning a lovely little nap.  Hey, I'll be starting work at 5:00 a.m., and it'll be in the 90's and possibly storming by late afternoon, so it's not like I'm slacking.  Okay, fine, I'll skip the wine.  Sheesh.

Have it good, and make something beautiful this week!

Make each moment an occasion...

Here's one of last week's projects...

This is about 7 feet square.  click to enlarge.

If you want to see it in person, you might want to check it out at Mystic Journey's Yoga Open Houses, next Tuesday and Thursday, here in Belle Plaine, MN.  Both instructors will be there both nights, but only one will teach a sample class each night, so you may want to attend both.  More info is on Sarah's website, yourmysticjourney.com.   If yoga's a bit too sedate, I have it on good authority that belly dancing will be offered soon, and having done just a little of that years ago, I can promise you that it's both good exercise, and good fun!

This week, I'm getting my exercise playing on the monkey bars.  Okay, actually, I'm monkeying up and down two and a half decks of scaffolding, adding some color and stencils to the sanctuary at St. John/Assumption Catholic Church. 

Somehow, I enjoyed last week's sanctuary a little more.  It's tornado season in Minnesota, which means hot and humid, and the peak of this sanctuary gets steamy by the end of the day!  The best part of the job are my guardian angels, TC and Carol Fogarty, who stop in to check on me often throughout the day, and bring me home baked cookies and iced Frappucino every afternoon.  Trust me, I'm burning it off...and the paint is looking pretty good so far, too.

p.s. Carol, please don't worry so.  I grew up following my big brother "the billy goat" up every cliff and tree in Eastern Oregon.  This isn't even kid stuff!  Really.

Sirens and Sanctuary

I'll tell you all about this week's project in a minute, but first, a note about something I love about Belle Plaine:  Tonight, someone's kid(s) had a moment they will remember all their lives.  I don't know who may have won the state baseball tournament, or maybe it was the spelling bee, but as happens about once a year, long slow sirens and the honking of horns were heard, and I, like all the neighbors, stepped out on my porch to watch a firetruck, waving kids hanging out the windows, leading a parade of honking vehicles through town to the schools.  It doesn't matter if the winners come home at 1:00 in the morning, if you're a kid in this town, and you achieve something big, there are grown-ups who will meet you at the city limits to make sure the whole town celebrates you.  Sometimes I think this town is as backwards as they come, but tonight I'm reminded that it's full of some really fine people.

(The gray is because it was still wet when I shot this photo.  Click to enlarge, click again to zoom)

I spent the week with some really fine people, sculpting this hummingbird vine over their dining room windows.  As fine as the people, their fine feathered friends really stole my heart.  Their home is on a peninsula of land between two creeks, and they have a backyard full of bird feeders.  In the last four days, I saw orioles, black-capped chickadees, ruby throated hummingbirds, rose breasted grosbeaks, cardinals, red bellied woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, blue jays, mourning doves, house finches, purple finches, wild turkeys, white breasted nuthatches, yellow bellied sapsuckers, chipmunks, and four squirrels, two of which were so fat, they could be mistaken for small bears.  Okay, that last bit is an exaggeration, but the list is not. 

I have never seen so many birds of so many varieties at one time in my life, and to watch the different species interact, which ones played nice, which ones chased others away, was so distracting, I actually ended up working an extra day (okay, part of that was the usual "plan the job one way, then dream up a way it could look even cooler" thing that I do).  Still, to spend the last four days sculpting pretties, plus some other decorating, for these two gentle souls, in the refuge they have created was the very best way I could have spent the work week.  Heaven on Earth.  Sanctuary.  Ahhhhhh.

(click and click again)

And just to give you an idea of the endless options, here's another version of hummingbird plaster, done with Italian style scroll work, for the traditional home of one of my favorite customers and dear friend...

cell phone shots, better ones to come.

posting postponed

Due to the ridiculously high volume of sign orders (yup, more sign orders), the Thursday night blog will likely happen around Saturday noon.  Sculpted hummingbird plaster job is going beautifully by day...I'm working at a window with a hummingbird feeder just a few feet from my ladder, so I have live models, not to mention great entertainment.  Second shift signwriting is going beautifully by night, with Belle's projects happening in small bits in the early mornings.  If you are awake at 3:45, send me some good thoughts... and a triple espresso!

Be careful what you ask for

Have you ever asked for a sign from the Divine, and gotten a billboard of an answer?  This actually happens to me fairly often, but I think the Universe is getting a good laugh this week. 

Click pictures to enlarge, click again for detail

(Just painted this one)

If you are a former sign writer, and wish to stay that way, I suggest you not ask for signs from God.  I just wanted a little hint that a project I have in the works is going to actually one day pay off.  "Could I please", I very specifically asked, "have a clear sign that this idea of mine will make money?" 

Um...got it. 

I am pleased to be busy, and I do enjoy lettering, but it's a bit like the pop machine that just keeps spitting out cans of cola.  Pretty much any order this past week that hasn't been a sign, and there have been ten of those, has at least included lettering.  Even my volunteer projects this week were signs.  Considering the fact that I have not been a commercial sign painter for many, many years, it's a little extraordinary to keep answering the door to people asking for them. 

Call it coincidence, if you like, but I know better than to ask for guidance and then ignore the answer.

These pictures are of last week's work.  Some Art Nouveau lettering with a Celtic flavor, and details from the same era in the adjoining kitchen.  I am grateful for everything, even the sign orders.  Especially the sign orders, though I do look forward to next week's sculpted plaster projects...nary a word involved!

As for progress on my own house this week, nothing photogenic to show off.  Some design sketches that may amount to something, a little primer, a little varnish...oh, and a great table I found on craigslist.org, which I have been searching for at an affordable price, since choosing to buy this house.  Seriously, I had a picture of the table (Jacobean Revival, popular from the turn of the century through the thirties in this part of the country), and was looking for the kind of house it would go in.   Found the house five years ago, found the table (for a song!)  five days ago...I'll show it on here one of these weeks.  An extra special thank you to Cathy Isles for her patronage, her joyful encouragement of big dreams, and the tip that paid for the table!

Talk about trying something new!

When not working on my own house lately, I've had the chance to do some fun projects for actual profit.  This dining room recently went from typical beige Midwestern to colorful Contemporary Country, with the help of designer Amy Kos.  The client actually chose the wall treatment, painted to look like panels of rusting barn siding, embellished with real screws, and her husband chose the wine bottle chandelier.  There is a reclaimed barn wood table on the way, and a childhood toy box bench and wooden barn will take their place alongside a buffet and corner curios from Ballard Designs.  What a fresh spin on American country style!  I'll post pictures of the finished project in a few weeks, along with a link to Amy.

Click to view, click again to enlarge

I was back on the job this morning, putting a quick crackled black-rub finish on their simple oak mantle...just a small detail to give context to the black firebox, and a more rustic finish to better compliment the organic nature of the stone.  That's fancy for "A little less builder oak, please."

Hope you have a great Memorial Weekend.  Check in next week for photos of "How I Started my Summer Vacation"...yeah, that's as in "What I'm painting next, here at home".  Throw a brat on the grill for me!

Details, details, details

Now that the big stuff is done in the kitchen, it's time to focus in on the smaller details.  Today I had my Third Thursday Art Group here, and after they took in the ceiling, walls, cabinets and floor-that faux tile floor really does fool the eye-they started asking about the bits on the counter.  Uh-huh, here we go through the brambles again...

Why buy spices in jars when you can buy 'em cheaper in bags, then spend a jillion hours creating custom containers from recycled olive jars (martinis anyone?), Pebeo ceramic paint (their glass paint is too sheer), and polymer clay? 

Why buy canisters from Target when you can top lidless yard sale finds with vintage china plates, to which you epoxy handles styled from recycled cabinet pulls and more polymer clay? 

And why leave a perfectly cute candlestick lamp alone, if you can give it a funky paint job and a paper clay rabbit head? 

Why hang out in the pub or in front of the telly when you can go to your playroom and make cool stuff that all your friends envy?

To all my friends who say they have no time to do those fun little projects they always talk about but never get around to, I issue a challenge:  Turn off the t.v. for a month, invite your friends to come over for art dates, instead of meeting for drinks or coffee, and see how much more satisfied you feel at the end of those four and a half weeks.  Divinity is in the details, and the details happen in the minutes we choose to use fully.  Have a perfectly divine weekend, whatever you choose to do!

Tea in the garden, anyone?

I meant to do something unique, but I didn't quite envision this, when I started out.  If you want to see my  kitchen in it's former yellow plastic glory, scroll down to the previous entry.  If you want to look at anything closer, click on the picture, then click again for a close-up.

She's painted from floor to ceiling, or is that ceiling to floor?  The "copper" ceiling is actually paintable wallpaper, first coated in metallic copper paint, then in gold glaze, to look better against the pink walls.  One hint, should you want to try this:  cut the paper into about three foot lengths along the natural divides, as it is very heavy, and will pull itself down before the glue dries.  Once painted, the cuts never show.

Yes, you can paint vinyl flooring.  The secret is very good primer and very good clear coats...and a lot of hours if you plan to do all the shading you see here!

The counter tops are painted in a faux marble, and the backsplash is troweled plaster with a piped on twig trellis, reminiscent of majolica pottery.  Usually I prefer to leave piped plaster white, but this time, I tinted it, as it seemed to help coordinate the backsplash and counter colors.  Dimensional plaster really is one of my very favorite things to do!

Every bunny needs an escape route!

Usually this is where I write the menu for the week, but with all this painting, I haven't been cooking much!

There are still some details to attend to...valances over the windows, paint on some of the furniture pieces that sit against the other walls, and maybe bringing the 1940's stove back up from the basement, where it was plumbed in for a summer kitchen when the "new" stove was installed.  For now, I think I'm ready for that cup of tea...or maybe just a wee nip of sherry?